


In the Line of Duty (Nishiura High School Host Club)

by factorielle



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte
Genre: Ensemble Cast, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-02
Updated: 2010-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-09 06:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/84181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/factorielle/pseuds/factorielle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "For the Fall Festival, the baseball club sets up a host club as their activity. Naturally, hilarity ensues."</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Line of Duty (Nishiura High School Host Club)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CamouflageCamel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CamouflageCamel/gifts).



The tragic part in all this is that had the suggestion been made by anyone else, there would have been a moment of silence, then a burst of laughter and a chorus of 'hell no'.

As luck would have it, it's Shinooka who throws it out there, just another idea on the heap of things that are being considered, and while it does make all of them fall silent, nobody dares to laugh. In fact, she's barely out the door that Tajima says "hey, why not? It would be fun!"

Abe makes a valiant effort to save the day by voicing his disagreement as loudly as possible, but Tajima already has his arm wrapped around Mihashi's neck, making him bob his head in apparent assent.

Not one to admit defeat so easily, Abe turns to his other teammates and finds them lacking. Sakaeguchi is telling Suyama that he'd probably be great at it, Oki is fiddling with his bag but unlikely to voice his opinion either way, Izumi looks pre-emptively resigned to Tajima having his way, Mizutani was a lost cause from the moment Shinooka opened her mouth, and Nishihiro watches on, seemingly unperturbed.

All of them turn to Hanai, who instinctively cringes before he controls himself and stands up straight. "I think we should do it," he says, looking off in the distance. "It wouldn't be my first choice, but of all the things that have been suggested it's the one that would bring in the most money, and I'm worried about the number of part-time jobs that Momokan is taking on to support the club."

After that, it becomes a fact that the baseball club will play host club for the school's Fall Festival.  


* * *

When Abe is forced to participate in something that he wants no part in whatsoever, his instinct is to take complete control of it. Everyone is happy to let him, until they realize that things are not as simple as playing dress-up and talking to girls (although, Oki tells Nishihiro on their way back to class, there is nothing simple about talking to girls).

"The first thing we need to do," Abe declares the next morning, "is research."

"Uh, Abe," Sakaeguchi attempts. "It's not like we're facing off with a scary unknown team, this is just..."

"Girls," Abe deadpans.

His answer is met with several anxious gulps. The ensuing silence is broken by a giggle from Shinooka, who turns it into a cough when Mizutani shoots her a wounded look.

"So what?" Tajima asks loudly. "Girls are people too, you know!"

"I'm quite aware of that," Abe grits out as Izumi thwaps Tajima over the head. "But we still need a lineup. The point here isn't just to entertain whoever comes by. We're going to need food, drinks, people to clean up after a customer is gone..." He shoots a glare at Oki, who was already raising his hand. "Of course, everyone will have a go at the actual hosting, but we need to know in advance who will be the favourites so we can organize ourselves. Shinooka?"

"You'll have the information next week," she answers serenely, and it's surely a display of complete trust that Abe just nods and leaves her to it, with no further instruction than "discreetly, please."

"In the meantime, we need to advertise. If this sorry exercise is going to turn a profit, everyone in school needs to know what we'll be doing... eventually. There needs to be a buzz, rising tension, and we won't file officially until the last moment. That means all of us will have to treat this as an absolute secret in front of other people. The real problem is getting the rumour started."

"Just hint at it in front of Hamada," Izumi volunteers. "That'll do the trick."

Abe ignores Mihashi's shocked (and slightly disapproving?) gasp. "Okay, then, next order of business..."  


* * *

Letting Hamada spread the information works like a charm. By the time Shinooka comes back with the results of her impromptu poll, the team has been asked about the possibility of holding a host club about fifty-seven times, all combined. Thankfully for everyone's nerves, Tajima fielded most of them, but the pressure is getting heavier.

The manager, as always, has done things thoroughly. She comes back with two lists of five names, delicate enough to protect the rankings of the ones who didn't make the cut.

The 'most popular' chart is no real surprise. In ascending order they find Mizutani, Suyama, Izumi, Hanai. Expectedly, Tajima stands at the top. Hanai doesn't let anything show on his face, but he moves on quickly.

"Who would you most like to have a special occasion to talk to?" is the other question Shinooka has been throwing around, and while they all admit that none of them would have thought to ask the question that way, obviously the results here are more interesting. Nobody needs an excuse to talk to Tajima, especially not if they have to pay for it.

Their clean-up, indeed, is nowhere on the list. On this one they find Izumi and Hanai yet again, Mihashi, Nishihiro, and as number one...

"Abe?" Mizutani demands incredulously. "That can't be right! Who would want to talk with Abe?"

Shinooka's smile freezes at the edges. When the meeting breaks up a few minutes later, she gets up stiffly and heads off the field without a further word, paying no mind to Mizutani staring after her.

"You don't think _she_..." he starts, talking mostly to himself.

"Maybe," Izumi answers, incidentally passing by at that very moment. "Or it could be that you just insulted her ability to gather information."

Mizutani flashes him a smile and takes off, probably to apologize to her.

"Although it probably isn't," Izumi amends under his breath, shaking his head at his speeding teammate.

"You're enjoying this a little too much, you know," Hanai scolds.

Izumi tries to look contrite, and fails. "You know, I keep telling myself that I should give him a break? But he makes it way too easy."

Hanai would like to tell him about the reasoning flaw in that, he really would, but then he'd probably have to tell Abe off as well. Slippery slope. "Well, how would _you_ feel if your crush was being discussed between your team members behind your back?"

Izumi doesn't appreciate being scolded, especially by someone who is currently doing the _exact same thing_, and for a moment he's sorely tempted to tell Hanai that being on the second chart means that the girls find Hanai too snotty to give them the time of day, which isn't technically a victory over Tajima.

"I got over it," he answers instead, glaring into the distance.

Hanai doesn't ask, and walks away slowly.

* * *

Abe's publicity strategy functions with the usual efficiency of anything he sets up: on the day before the festival, the players can almost feel the tension wherever they go, and they can certainly hear the occasional bursts of squealing. This only incites Tajima and Mizutani to whisper between themselves about whatever it is that they're plotting for the big day (none of the others have dared to ask), along with making Oki and Mihashi reach heretofore uncharted levels of abject terror.

But everyone is in their dedicated classroom on time the next morning, to change into suits for once instead of baseball uniforms, and attempt to help one another through a hapless mess of uncomfortable shoes, hair gel and neckties.

Suyama is remarkably deft with the latter, gently tugging Sakaeguchi's from his hands before wrapping and tying it around his neck in an expert move. As a result, both of them have a slightly different knot than the others, but nobody comments.

They wouldn't, anyway, because their seating hostess has just come into the room.

Shinooka is wearing a simple but elegant dress, heels, and has straightened her hair to perfection so that it falls delicately around her slightly made-up face. The entire team stands in stunned silence for a moment, and then Izumi coughs loudly, just in time to cover Mizutani's pathetic whimper.

"You look amazing," Hanai tells her after shaking himself. She smiles shyly and explains that she got helped by Ochi-senpai and none of this stuff is actually hers, before pulling out a notebook and pen and setting up at the desk nearest the door.

Shaken out of their stupor, everyone gets to work.

* * *

"I can't look," Sakaeguchi says, peering between his fingers. "Are they pretending to kiss _again_?"

Hanai glances at the throngs of excited girls surrounding Mizutani and Tajima, his height an advantage to look at the culprits through the crowd. "Yes," he says, long-suffering. "Yes, they are."

Izumi slaps a sandwich together. "Where did they even get that idea? I thought the point was to entertain the customers, not to make out in a classroom."

"They seem to be entertained enough," Oki points out as a loud scream rises from that general area.

"It's the 'forbidden love' strategy." Suyama picks up a tray, and heads straight back out. "I bet their sisters read LaLa."

"But for it to be forbidden they'd have to be broth--" Sakaeguchi starts, then stops when he realizes this is not information he's supposed to have, then stares after his classmate, who's almost reached Nishihiro's table already. "And how do you know that anyway, you don't even _have_ a sister!"

* * *

"Hey, there's something that wasn't in the rules!"

Abe, who took over Shinooka's duty when it became obvious that including her in the rotation would bring in a healthy profit, finishes writing down an appointment for the end of the afternoon before turning to Tajima.

"What if a girl says that she wants to see you again somewhere else, does she needs to pay for the date too, or..."

"That depends, do you want to have a record as a male prostitute?" Abe snaps.

At his side, Hanai sighs loudly. "Just tell her to ask you again after the festival, and then do what you want. And pay for everything yourself, dammit, what kind of a leech are you!"

"Okay!" Tajima bounces back, but not to his own table; instead he heads straight for Mihashi and whispers something in his ear, pointing toward them. Mihashi looks surprised for a moment, then nods fervently.

"Did he just--" Abe seethes.

"I don't know what's sadder," Hanai comments. "That we thought even for a second that Tajima would ask you for permission to go on a date, or that Mihashi actually _did_."

* * *

"Izumi, there's someone for you."

"I should have been on break ten minutes ago!" Izumi snaps, the last of his well-tried patience melting like snow in the sun. Tajima's stint in the kitchen was an unprecedented disaster, and he's just done cleaning up.

"I know," Oki says, recoiling a little, "but that person asked specifically for you and paid extra, so..."

Izumi sighs, and takes the apron off. It's the way Oki said 'that person' that sets every nerve of his body on edge, and he's only half-surprised, getting to the table, to find Hamada grinning at him.

"Don't you have better things to do with your money?" Izumi inquires with a frosty smile. "Like paying rent?"

"I like to think I do my part in supporting the baseball club," Hamada retorts, still grinning. Sensing something interesting going on, some of the girls at the back of Tajima and Mizutani's crowd turn to them.

Izumi decides to cut his losses. "Well, I'm terribly sorry, but I'm scheduled for a break at the moment. If you would care to wait, I'll be back in an hour." At which point, he knows, Hamada will be needed back at their class stand. He doesn't wait for an answer, and whirls around.

"That's fine," he hears Hamada says behind him, "I'll just entertain myself spreading rumours, since I'm so good at that."

Izumi freezes dead in his tracks.

"Hey, you know what," Hamada starts saying, loudly, "back in middle school I had this kouhai who was so scared of the dark that one night, at camp, he--"

"And what would you like to drink today, sir?" Izumi asks, slamming the menu on the table.

* * *

Later that evening, after they finally, blissfully close the door on the last customer, everyone sags visibly, more exhausted than after the most strenuous of practices.

"That was fun," Hanai moans, falling heavily on a chair. He has to get up again to retrieve the ties he's just sat on, and toss them at the two idiots who made a show of removing them off each other earlier. In their defence, their act did gather a fair number of customers, but he suspects it also attracted the attention of a few teachers, and not in a good way. Somewhere down the road, Shigapo will make a speech about appropriate behaviour at school.

"Yep," Izumi concurs, helping himself to a misshapen finger sandwich.

Abe finalizes his sums in a shaky hand, then closes the notebook in a dramatic slam. "We made a lot of money for the club, too."

They look at one another, all eleven of them, and shake their heads.

"Let's never do this again."


End file.
